Editorial: More damaging records released

Friday, April 24, 1998 | 10:40 a.m.

ADD another former Big Tobacco ally to the growing list of members of Congress who have grown disgusted with the now-maligned industry.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Tom Bliley, R-Va., released on Wednesday 39,000 documents his committee had subpoenaed, showing that lawyers for the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. had withheld research destroyed evidence of smoking's hazards. That Bliley would initiate releasing these records to the public is significant, especially since he has been known as a friend of the tobacco industry. "I am very concerned about teenage smoking, and am taking steps to help reduce it. Getting these documents out and into the open is one of those steps," Bliley said.

According to excerpts of the documents published by the Associated Press, some of the material is disturbing, even by tobacco industry standards. Here is just a sampling of some of the 39,000 documents:

The truth of the matter is that the McCain legislation is intended to reduce teenage smoking and is good government, not big government. If anyone needed further evidence of how little Big Tobacco's words and deeds can be trusted, some of the new documents released this week will only reinforce the impression of an industry that is indifferent to science and the truth.

Congress should not let up on passing anti-tobacco legislation that will protect the nation's public health and in particular help prevent our nation's kids from becoming addicted to smoking.